


The Reynolds Revelation

by MissWoodhouse



Series: I Am All The Daughters of My Father's House, And All the Brothers Too [2]
Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: "breeches roles", Canon Era, Female Burr, Female Hamilton, Gen, Reynolds Pamphlet, disguises
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-20
Updated: 2016-03-22
Packaged: 2018-05-28 00:39:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6306958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissWoodhouse/pseuds/MissWoodhouse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A continuation of my woman-in-disguise Burr and Hamilton musings (see Talk Less, Smile More).  Now with added Reynolds incident!</p><p>Three ways the Reynolds Pamphlet situation might pan out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. We Know

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reynolds knows. Madison and Jefferson find out.

“Do you promise not to tell another soul what you saw?”

 

Hamilton wasn’t money laundering.

Hamilton was being blackmailed.

Hamilton was being blackmailed rather than money laundering and they had just promised to keep the secret of whatever Hamilton was being blackmailed for.

What kind of idiots were they?

And what kind of dirt did Reynolds have on this guy?

…

…Well, not a guy. That was certainly dirt.

Had they been getting politically trounced by a woman?

Oh my God, they had been getting politically trounced by a woman!

I mean it was one thing when it was Adams, when anyone with half a brain could see that his wife was dictating half his policy in letters from Boston. It was one thing to be exchanging letters with Mrs. Mercy Otis Warren or the eldest Schuyler daughter. But Madison had written essays with Hamilton! Jefferson had been in cabinet meetings with Hamilton! Jefferson had _lost arguments_ in cabinet meetings to Hamilton! They negotiated the deal over the capitol with Hamilton!

This was not happening.

This could not be happening.

It was embarrassing. It was demeaning. It was possibly an interesting rationale for why Hamilton managed to worm his way so thoroughly into Washington’s good graces. But that was a remarkably unappealing train of thought.

This would ruin Hamilton. This would get him…her…whatever, permanently off the political map.

This would ruin them. Hamilton would be a pariah, sure, but they’d be a laughing stock. The newspapers would have a field day. The political cartoons would haunt them to their graves.

No, this would have to stay a secret. There was no way they could let the world know that they’d been bested by a woman.

 

“The people won’t know what we know.”


	2. Hurricane

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Burr knows. Reynolds, Madison, and Jefferson do not.

“Rumors only grow. And we both know what we know.”

 

Burr wouldn’t. Couldn’t. Maybe that wasn’t even what she was referring to. Could be the affair, that’s what Hamilton thought she was asking about, but something in Burr’s tone of voice…

 

There was threat there, real threat, that said Burr came to her office with Madison and Jefferson intending to ruin Hamilton, and if Hamilton took away their trump card, well, she wasn’t afraid to play the other one hidden up her sleeve. Madison and Jefferson were safe. They couldn’t _really_ ruin her, not with the information they had. If they published the affair it would be bad, Eliza would be heartbroken, but it wouldn’t be irreparable. Alexander Hamilton could still have a career. If Burr published what _she_ knew, Alexandra Hamilton would be ruined.

 

But Burr couldn’t. She had to know that in outing Hamilton, she’d risk outing herself. The whole reason their secret worked was that it was mutual. They knew the exact same career-ruining secret about each other.

 

But that was the problem, wasn’t it? “We _both_ know what we know,” that’s what Burr had said. Both of them. And Hamilton didn’t have any other dirt on Burr, nothing equal to the affair, because the whole world already knew about Burr and Theodosia.

 

No, this was a declaration of war. Burr was letting Alex know that she wasn’t afraid to take that risk, if the situation were right. That there might be a time when stopping Alex came before maintaining Burr’s identity. And wasn’t that an insult all on its own! Was the idea of Alex in power really that heinous to Burr? That she would undo _both_ their lifetimes’ work!

 

What did Burr want from her? What could she promise Burr? – a condition of Burr’s never giving up her secret. There had to be _something_ the woman was angling for. But after one threat, could she ever trust that Burr wouldn’t do it again? Last time the promise was reciprocity – what should have been the strongest motive – and yet Burr seemed willing to break it.

 

Hamilton had to take matters into her own hands. If Jefferson and Madison decided the affair was enough dirt, Burr would leave it at that. Had been happily willing to leave it at accusations of speculation. But Jefferson and Madison had promised not to publicize the affair, so if they held to that, Hamilton was screwed. She would have to publish the affair herself. It was the only way. Take the smaller fall willingly, so Burr couldn’t push her off the greater precipice. Eliza would have to understand.

“This is the only way I can protect my legacy…”


	3. The Reynolds Pamphlet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Burr finds out.

“Have you read this?”

 

Burr needed a drink. It was nine in the morning, and Burr needed a drink. Preferably a strong one, an Alexander-Hamilton-has-written-a-stunning-self-exposé kind of drink.

 

Alexander Hamilton was a woman. Alexander Hamilton was a woman, too! How on earth had Burr gone so many years without knowing? How were their lives so parallel, and their outlooks so different?

 

Had it been Alexander who commented on their similarities during that first meeting, so many years ago? He…she had been more right than either of them could have known! Perhaps this explained what had always drawn Burr back to Hamilton, no matter how many times she tried to distance herself from his rashness, his vocal stands on every divisive issue he could get his hands on. His infuriating success.

 

 _Her_ infuriating success! Burr had spent decades, practically her whole life, hemmed in by the constraints of her disguise. By the need for a low profile. The need to avoid suspicion. She had always resented that Hamilton had the freedom to speak his mind, take a stand, cause a commotion over what he believed. Over what he wanted. She had always hated the reminder that he could do it because he was man. He had grown up learning to speak his mind, he didn’t have to worry about anyone discovering his secrets because he laid his whole past out on the table. Because he wasn’t living a lie.

 

And now? Now she was angrier! Angry with that woman for being able to do all of the things she’d always told herself she couldn’t. Angry with herself for not doing it anyway. For not doing like Hamilton.   For not _being_ more like Hamilton. Because that’s what it always came down to, to the competition between them.

 

But now? Now the playing field felt level. No, now she was ahead! She knew about Hamilton, Hamilton was _ruined_ , but no one knew about her! Other than her little Theodosia, there was no one left who had gotten close enough to her to know.

 

No one who she’d _let_ close enough to know. But that fear ended today. Not that she was going to expose herself like Hamilton, not that she was _ever_ going to take things as far. But she’d learn from Hamilton’s example and from Hamilton’s mistakes. Aaron Burr was going to go after everything that Esther Burr had always wanted, deep down inside.   Aaron Burr was going to enter the political fray for real this time, and she was going to make her mark on the world.

 

“I’m chasing what I want…I learned that from you.”


End file.
